From the book “CASA MEXICANA” ©1989 Tim Street-Porter, published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang, New York. Reproduced by special permission of the publisher and author. The climatic contrast between Mexico’s high-altitude cities on the Central Plateau and the coastal resorts which line the Pacific Coast is dramatic. A quick thirty minute flight on Mexicana transports the […]
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We jounce for five hours in a pickup truck heading west from Tampico over the dusty Mexican plain to the Sierra Madre, up and up into a green world-peaks as sudden as the mountains of Moorea, tree-covered jagged ranges huge enough to be the molars of God, past coffee plantations, ramping bougainvillea, banana trees, crashing […]
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Travelers who are interested in the history of this region of Michoacán will be well rewarded by a tour of the numerous picturesque villages bordering Lake Pátzcuaro. In addition to their authentic indigenous ambience and specialized crafts, many of these communities boast old colonial churches and missions, some dating back over 400 years. Here are […]
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It was a chance thing, really. We were heading for Patzcuaro, almost due south of Guanajuato where we had spent the past several days on a photography and business junket. While we were checking out of our small hotel just this side of the tunnels that snake under old Guanajuato, the otherwise taciturn gentleman who […]
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To Part One: Agreement to purchase Part Two: Buying the house Now that the house was legally mine, I had to make some important decisions about how I would go about restoring the property. Alberto and I spent two exhausting weekends cleaning the house with the help of some hardworking guys who took the rubbish away, cleaned […]
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To Part Two: Buying the house Part Three: Restoration: time to make decisions This is a story about my love affair with an old house in Mexico. It began in February 2004, when I did a road trip across Mexico and ended my journey on the shores of Lake Chapala. Exploring Chapala town one day, I […]
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To Part One: Agreement to purchase Part Three: Restoration, time to make decisions The first step on my journey to buy the Mi Pullman house had been achieved — the family had agreed to sell. However, the distance between agreeing to sell me the house and making the escritura was vast — I had no idea that the […]
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Located just east of Zacatecas city, Guadalupe’s palm-fringed Jardín Juárez has the special charm found in so many Mexican towns. Here vendors sell the local crafts that this colonial town, founded in 1578, is famous for – including tooled leather belts and soft, pliant jackets along with large carved rustic furniture and wall hangings, newly woven […]
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Colonial Durango — Victoria de Durango, Durango — staged many of Mexico’s most important historical events. Historic figures, including Guadalupe Victoria, Francisco Gómez Palacio, José María Patoni, José Ceballos, Domingo Arrieta León, Francisco “Pancho” Villa, and Francisco Castillo Nájera carried out their duties within and among the city’s colonial buildings. Many of the city’s important […]
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The glory days of hacienda living are today just an intriguing piece of Mexico’s history. For the newly-arrived Spanish nobles it was a time of great wealth and great expectations that began with their arrival in Mexico in 1524, until the slow demise of the grand estates following the Mexican Revolution of 1910. This land, […]
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